Nasa Sees Stars - Not $$$

NAMES & FACES

Agency Spurns Rent, Lets 'Apollo 13' Filmmakers Use Crawler For Free

CAPE CANAVERAL — There are some things NASA won't rent. But practically give them away? That's another thing entirely.

When producers of the movie Apollo 13 wanted to film one of Kennedy Space Center's two giant crawler-transporters, they offered to pay financially strapped NASA a rental fee.

The space agency said no.

''We are not in that business,'' spokesman Ed Harrison said. ''We're not a rental company. We're not a leasing company.''

Instead, NASA decided to lend the 6 million-pound crawler to the moviemakers for the cost of fuel and staff, Harrison said. It even rearranged KSC maintenance schedules to accommodate Parenthood and Backdraft director Ron Howard, who is filming Apollo 13.

The actual cost won't be calculated until after Tuesday's scheduled filming, Harrison said.

The crawlers, which move space shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads at a top speed of 1 mph, were first used during the Apollo era in the 1960s. They get 150 gallons to the mile. That's gallons per mile.

Apollo 13's producers wanted to rent one because they couldn't get to KSC to film one of the 131-foot-long vehicles during normal use.

Harrison refused to say how much movie producers initially offered NASA. ''This is not about money,'' he said.

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin told agency workers Thursday that, because of government spending cuts, the agency would have to trim costs 30 percent by 1999. Agency officials said the shuttle program may have to trim $90 million a year by 1996.

Harrison said NASA prefers to lend equipment instead of charging rent because it allows the public agency to retain control of the equipment and its use; it avoids a precedent that could allow others to demand renting something like a crawler for frivolous things, such as a parade; and it allows the agency to pick and support endeavors that promote the agency and the U.S. space program.

NASA likes the script for Apollo 13. The film, starring Tom Hanks, recounts the explosion aboard Apollo 13 and how the three astronauts aboard that unlucky moon mission were rescued after nearly being lost in space.

''It's a very positive story,'' Harrison said. ''There are a lot of people in the Kennedy Space Center who played a role to get the guys home.''

Michael Rosenberg, spokesman for the production company, Imagine Entertainment, said, ''It's a great relationship between NASA and the production team.''